Travel Plans

So during their independence day, that week our program has that week off! No classes. So we are all traveling, some people are going to Argentina, I am not one of them. I am going to the north! Thursday night at 9:45 I am getting on a bus with 3 or 4 other people to go to Santiago. We will get there at like 7:30 Friday morning then at 10:30 we get on another long bus ride even more to the north to Caldera where we sleep. We will spend a few days there and this other town that is close Copiapo. Apparently there is a beach there.

In the news currently Santiago has been flooding so I don't know what kind of weather I should expect. But anyways we will be in Caldera until Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, then we are going to La Serena and staying the night there, there is a penguin reserve there apparently! Woooo penguinos! I am pretty sure that is my university's mascot here. On Thursday we rumba on back to Santiago on a bus, Friday is independence day. We spend Saturday there as well. Then we come back to Valdivia, we leave Santiago at 7:30 in the morning. I don't know how well all of this will go being that we do not know the area at all anywhere we are going, and I don't want to be ripped off for being a gringa. The trip is about 9 days, the 11th to the 20th but the first day is pure bus ride, and as well as the last day.... and then random in between travel. But I will be getting around :) Travel seems to be reasonably priced, the 4 bus rides that I have bought so far have totaled about $100, and I just have some miscellaneous travel to take care of while on the trip. Now I need to do sleeping arrangements. Hostals seem the way to go. $10-$15 seems to be the price for a bed, or $20 but I am fine with a $10 :D

I also had some problems with the bus tickets we bought, my people going to the same place have the same dilema, we bought some of our tickets at the same time..... and then we all ended up with 2 tickets going to Santiago from Valdivia, but we asked for tickets from Santiago going to Caldera. Then today when we went to fix it, at first the guy just changed my seat on the bus then I told him that it was wrong and re-explained it. I do not see how they did not understand the first time, language problems will get you. But I noticed last night and talked with my peeps today so it is all good. That would have been horrible, we arrive in Santiago and we have tickets to get from Valdivia to Santiago one more time..... but not to get to Caldera :/ Horror.